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Survey: 59 percent of brands' Wikipedia pages have inaccuracies

A new study conducted by Marcia DiStaso, an assistant professor of public relations at Pennsylvania State University, and published by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) finds that errors on Wikipedia pages can damage company reputations.

According to the study, 59 percent of respondents said their client’s Wikipedia page had one or more factual errors, and 28 percent of those said the pages had at least one “potentially reputation-damaging error.”

Meanwhile, 38 percent said an error in a Wikipedia article had damaged their company or client’s reputation.

Wikipedia allows users to edit pages. The rules are different for PR pros. They’re subject to the “bright line” rule, which “requires public relations professionals to make requests for changes to their company or client’s Wikipedia page through the Talk pages instead of directly editing.”